


Stuck in Overdrive

by ReddestReaction



Category: Homestuck, Sunset Overdrive (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - No Sburb Session, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, F/F, F/M, How Do I Tag, M/M, Multi, We Die Like Men, What Have I Done, Worldbuilding, each character is based off of a fandom, i was bored, lots of references and ocs, no editing, open to critism
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-07-11
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:33:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 16,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25210009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReddestReaction/pseuds/ReddestReaction
Summary: A new sports/energy drink splinter starter group called Fizzco was throwing a citywide premium premier of the newest energy drink, Overcharge. With the help of the CrockerCorp industry, of course. Everything goes horribly, horribly wrong. Welcome to the Awesomepolcolypse!
Relationships: Original Character/Original Character, Original Troll Character(s)/Original Troll Character(s) (Homestuck)
Kudos: 2





	1. => Start Horror Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 2 days after Hikkups Birthday she is now on janitor duty when a horrible problem arises.

**= > Start Horror night**

Today is July 13th, two days after your birthday and the day that a new sports/energy drink splinter starter group called Fizzco was throwing a citywide premium premier of the newest energy drink, Overcharge. With the help of the CrockerCorp industry, of course. 

You had foolishly forgotten this fact when you traded your days with the human Stacy to relax on your birthday and now you regret it as you follow behind the reckless amount of people on the dance floor and pick up after them. 

Your name is  **Hikkup Hyssop** and you hate your life.

You walk around the dancefloor, picking up and pouring out discarded drinks as everyone parties to some gold-blood “sick beats”. The DJ was probably getting paid way more than you, plus overtime, but for some reason you feel like he didn’t actually want to be there. 

You hear several indigo-bloods reprimand couples for “lewd behavior” which you instantly appreciate.  _ Like can you not? please don’t do that in front of public eyes. If you were going to do that you could’ve just stayed at home.  _

You grumble under your breath as people obviously see you walking and decide to stop in front of you, like  _ thanks asshole.  _

And don’t get me started on what looks like a person going to puke rainbows in a second.  _ Excuse me sir, can you not? _

The refreshment table was a nightmare, chips and cookies smashed into the floor and candy stuck to the tables after being irresponsibly opened with no real plans of being eaten. You empty out the dozens of full trash cans and make your way to the dumpster in the back, mumbling to yourself on how you are going to get the human Stacy for this. Everyone here was sloshed already.

Outside, you see one of your co-workers taking a break by the dumpster, drinking one of the Overcharge products. You personally can’t have one due to the sopar you use. 

You glare at him as you put the trash in the dumpster, he courteously flicking you off before downing the rest of the drink. You swear that he does crack on the regular. He doesn’t even take the time to turn around and put the can in the bin, deciding to drop it on the ground and crush it.

You growl under your breath, muttering about how you only had a half hour left and then you could go home. As you begin to walk away, the crackhead behind you begins to start heaving and gasping for air.

_ Oh god, I hope I don't have to do CPR… _

When I turn around, his skin begins to glow orange like the drink he had consumed. It begins to flare and puff up, cracking and sizzling, scabbing over, his growls go from pain to feral. I begin to back away in terror.

A scream is heard on the other side of the party, causing my body to go into a panic frenzy. My body freezes up and my mind runs a mile a minute.  _ Nope nope nopity- nope nope nope nope _ . I forced myself to run, not really sure where i was planning to go but knowing that i can’t stay where i was.

**= > Abscond**

You would… if you hadn’t taken the train here. So you run toward the train station and hop on the next train, despite not knowing or really caring where it is going. __

_ You just don’t want to be here. You really don’t want to be here. _

As the train zooms by, you notice there aren't a lot of passengers and the ones on the train look utterly mortified. _ Which is never a good sign. _

Suddenly the train rattles and the mutant-thingies begin to attack the train, smashing windows and clawing at those they can get their hands on. You punch and kick at them, more of a lame attempt to keep calm and live then really anything. You always knew that you would suck in a zombie apocalypse scenario.

There was a large thump and the lights flicker out on the train, causing everyone to scream. The train comes to a halt and the doors open halfway. Everyone rushes to pry them open, and flames from the outside lick at them as they do.

Utter chaos is happening all around you and you feel like giving up and just… not…

But you don’t want to die just yet. _ Not like this. _

You then hear what stopped the train as it roars, jumping on top of the train. You decide that you need to get home… now. So you center yourself.  _ You just… have to get home… yeah, get home and… no… just get home. _

Everything is on fire, trash scattered around and people screaming in the distance. Some cries for help here and there. Fear scented the spicy air that you are forcing in and out of your lungs as you run, trying to grasp your surroundings without slowing down. Fear and adrenaline are the only things running you right now.

You then realized how fucked you are as you notice all the different kinds of monsters. You nopity-nope nope the fuck out of there and to your apartment, throwing your bookcase and fridge in front of your door and finding anything to sheild your windows. 

You know you can’t stay here forever but all you can do for now… is wait.


	2. => Be a coward

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hikkup conteplates going outside. Luck is on her side.

**= > Be the coward**

Wow, that was rude. But Whatever… 

Your name is  **Hikkup Hyssop** and you have been trapped inside your house for 17 days and you are out of food, toilet paper and everything else that is essential to life. _ Not that you had a chance to stock up before quartining yourself. _

But let's put up put away your dumb dilemma right now and learn more about you.

You're quite the introvert, not really talkative or decisive on matters. You describe yourself as a person that is better on paper. You don't think highly of yourself even though people tell you that you should.  You hate people.  And then there will always be haters but in all honesty fuck them.

Anyway you're all alone, being nowhere to be found. _And maybe that’s for the best._

If we were to go around your room right now you would have a mirror, a television, a bookshelf, a night stand, your bed, and your laptop. You have some posters of half-naked women on the wall like Troll Kate Upton and half-naked men like human Channing Tatum on the wall along with your favorite superheroes Batman and the Batfamily and Green Lantern (the Hal Jordan on respectively).

**= > Check yourself in the mirror**

You look at yourself in the mirror, Your hair has recently been flattened but that normally only lasts several days again until it pops back up into an unruly mess. You have lost many combs and brushes battling the accursed hair.  Not that it makes you look good anyways.

You look away from the lime colored splotches in your eyes, pretending they aren’t there. It's just a mutation that hasn’t been bred out yet. And maybe never will.

Your horns barely are 2 inches out of your hair. The longest one is 5 inches and the other is 3 and a half. You’re not ashamed of them in the slightest, knowing that they are shorter, nubbier ones and ones like handlebars.

You dress like a teenage tomboy. _ Despite wanting to have a feminie appearance at times. _

**= > Check out your laptop.**

How about we don't? There's some sensitive stuff on there.

**= > Look at your bookshelf.**

There's nothing special on your bookshelf, just a whole bunch of folders full of paper and notebooks that are unwritten in. You enjoy writing stories but don't actually have the time to write stories anymore. Most of it’s just fanfiction anyways.

You have a couple superhero comics but you're not really a collector, they were gifts and you never throw away gifts. Not that you would throw away these gifts. You actually like them and look at them often.

_ Don't mind me shoving my My Little Pony roleplay books into the back.  _ You haven't played a campaign in a while but you refuse to let go of the books.

We also have some cookbooks because somebody around here has to cook. You especially like the cookbook specializing in meats and sweets. You like to think that you are some sort of aspiring homecook who would like to learn how to bring people together with food… but you hate people so by default, that’s a lie. But enough of that.

**= > Check your night stand.**

On your nightstand is all your art materials stuffed in some handmade mugs that you fucked up on. You don't use them as often but she enjoyed drawing fanart that you don't want other people to see. Mostly cuz you're a suckass artist. You also have several display figurines of your favorite anime characters such as Aggestuko, Victor from YOI, and RWBY from Volume 3  the last good volume.  You also have some stuffed animals that keep there as well, such as your first ever teddy bear from back when you were a wriggler.

**= > Lay on your bed.**

You flopped on your bed with two mattresses on the floor. You have all your big fluffy teddy bears and all your pillows on your bed taking up most of the space. You probably kick them off before reaching and putting them back on your bed.

**= > Hug your favorite teddy bear Mr. Snugglesworth.**

You hug your cuddly friend. But then you feel like you are leaving everyone out. So you hug Mr. Cuddlekins, Mr. Roarsalot, Vanilla, and Mr. Hugsby. Vanilla is actually your favorite, having him since being a wriggler and all, but he’s too small and delicate to be handled by a grown ass troll.

**= > Check your laptop.**

You plop down in your computer chair and twirl around in it for a while while singing “Spinning around, Spinning around!” l ike a fucking weeb . You then stop and stare up at the ceiling, momentarily questioning your existence at this very moment.

**= > Check your Laptop!**

_ Okay okay! _

You check your laptop, gingerly opening and praying that today's screensaver isn't a flashy one.

You sigh with relief, it being a picture of Derpy and the Doctor from My Little Pony. Usually you have half naked men or full blown smut as a screensaver. You have gotten some questionable looks in the past.

You got a notification from you NOT matesprit, the human Zach. you have been a “thing” since you had graduated high school after a more so fling that happened when you had thought that you’d never get to see him again. Every now and again, he would message you in the middle of the night to talk and tell himself that he loves you despite not wanting to commit. It’s a wonder why you haven’t deleted his number… you kinda wish that you would, it hurts seeing it there but you hate yourself so you won’t … maybe someday.

You also have a message from the day after your birthday. It’s a photo of your hate-crush throwing a birthday party. On your actual birthday… and he didn’t invite you. By the looks of it, it seems he made a cake and everything.

All I did was binge on anime and make myself a steak dinner and a small cupcake.

It pisses you off like no one's business.

ReddestReaction is now pestering ResistablyComplicated

RR: hey

RC: hey

RR: I see even cockroaches can’t die during times like these.

RC: ouch that burns babe… but seriously, did you like the party i threw, i worked real hard on it.

RR: i don’t know, i wasn’t invited

RC: haha very funny

RR: i don’t see a joke

RC: …

RC: …

RC: … you’re not joking.

RR: i noticed

RC: fuck! I sent out invites to everyone! Why didn’t you get yours? I worked so hard on this… like that’s what hate-boyfriends are supposed to do right? I am your hate-boyfriend right… like this isn’t an one sided thing… we definitely fought and…

RR: Yes, I was there. It happened… it’s called a kismesis, you asshole, do it right or don’t do it at all. And it’s fine… i mean there’s nothing we can do about it now

RC: I wondered why you left all your presents here. I mean yeah, they’re all from the dollar store and hella cheap but i thought that since i’m your hate-boyfriend it would be charming to get you a bunch of shit, you know… and you’re not exactly girly, so why buy you girly shit that you’re never going to use?

You sit and look at the screen in disbelief. It’s considerate but also a spit in the face insult. God, you hate this idiot.

RR: yeah, well, i didn’t get invited, so i didn’t come, so i didn’t open any presents or get any cake or anything…

RC: … it was probably for the best that you didn’t come for the cake. Was definately going to humilate the fuck out of you with the trick candles and then smash an ice cream cupcake all over your face, maybe smack a few peices of cake out of your hand until you get mad enough to want to wrestle around and beat each other until we bleed

RR: spare me your wet fantasies… we’re in the middle of a zombie apocalypse

RC: are they zombies…? I mean, they drank a drink and they turned into monsters… I think they are just mutants…

RR: why do you care?

RC: i don’t, i just wanted to make a reference

RR: this… this right here is why i can’t have nice things

RC: i’m sure there are other reasons why

You get a notification from Zack. You almost don’t answer it but you are so desperate to hear from him for some reason.

AbusedOxytocin is pestering ReddestReactionary

AO: Hikkup, are you still alive?

RR: yes, i’m still alive

AO: oh... cool

RR: … yeah

AO: is there something wrong

RR: … no, sorry if i’m dancing on pins and needles here, it’s just we barely talk anymore and when we do… it’s nothing

AO: hey, if it’s bothering you, we can talk about it.

RR: i’m trying to be okay with everything right now… i don’t really know what's going on or where we stand because every now and again you disappear and i don’t talk to you for months and then you appear out of the sky blue but i’m hesitant to talk to you because i convinced myself that it’s not healthy to wait for something that i’m never going to have

AO: wow… that was a loaded 

AO: but you're justified… i’ve been a really shitty… friend as of late. Not just to you.

AO: remember when we first agreed to this and you said that you were afraid that i would hurt you?

RR: After dating literally any girl you could get your hands on during high school, yeah

AO: now’s not the time for pettiness, i’m trying to be sentimental… remember how I told you that I ran from my feelings and one day I was going to hurt someone I care for…

RR: yeah?

AO: idk, i think about it a lot

RC: So you are ignoring me now?

RR: no, just multitasking. What, an attention whore now… wait, nevermind

RC: oh please, like you’re not one. Little miss goody-toe-shoes, teachers pet, upstanding citizen. But in reality you are a horrible beast that craves like everyone else. You wag your tail and hide your fangs because you know that the moment you bite you won’t stop

RR: i just have a zero-bullshit tolerance

RC: your whole facade is bullshit. People could walk all over you and you’d wait until you get home and cry over it. That’s how you got pushed down the stairs that one day.

RR: …

RC: …

RR: …

AO: hey i’m sorry, for all things considered

RR: you have nothing to be sorry for, i knew what i was signing up for a load of disappointment somewhere down the line when i said yes.

**= >Bang! Bang! Bang!**

You sigh. _ Almost forgot the dilemma that you are in.  _ You capturelog everything in your room before heading into the front room. 

Ever since you pushed the refrigerator in front of the door, it's been rattling Non-Stop. The outside forces are fighting outside your door hoping that with enough Force they can break in.

Now that you need to leave, you're going to have to find a way to fight them off.

**= > Go to HER room**

You have a whole room dedicated to your ancestor, the LastShot, getting her name from the cruel hand of fate that she was given. She once fought off platoons of Imperial Drones and kept those of lower castes than her safe from captivity until one horrid day she was captured by a cruel indigo blood who forced her into an abusive blackrom.

The picture you have on your wall is the last picture painted showing a depiction of her “last shot” of alcohol, her holding an indigo shot glass while being held against the chest of a blueblood, shoosh papping her.

What you find must be shelves amongst shelves filled with bottles of alcohol with fancy labels that would be worth hundreds of boons. You take two or three bottles, despite your dislike of alcohol. 

You noticed some throwing knives on her wall, apparently a set of seven but one is missing, rumored to be buried in the skull of a certain indigoblood, the knives being a pale gift from the troll who saved her.

You practically turn everything else in the room into grist, before going to dig through your front room cabinet where you keep your games and find two packs of cards. One of them unopened any other missing a few. Inspired by a certain rattling sound your fridge makes, you race into your bathroom and grab your first aid kit.

Now that you were thinking about it, perhaps this will be your only opportunity to craft some weapons.

You use your alchemize table to alchemize your cards. The unopened pack is now your strife deck if being alchemized with the throwing knives. The open pack is now your healing deck. It is alchemized with your first aid kit. You also grab some poker chips from out of the game cabinet and the shaving cream. Recently after some stupid idiot decided to throw shaving cream on fire you have learned that shaving cream is highly flammable.  _ So what's the harm of crafting some explosive poker chips just in case? _

You now call this strife deck the "Hold 'em up" deck.

As soon as you put the deck back inside your inventory you hear a rattle and then a bang. You rush into the front room to find that they have finally dislodged your fridge.

**= > Strife!**

It isn’t your first time ever strifing, but you need to start to think that it's either my life for theirs. So draw your cards.

Your cards hold 50 amounts of damage on their own, so you don't need any special moves as of right now. _ But you should look into it later.  _ It only takes a couple hands to fight off these creeps, they drop plenty of grist on the ground to make up for the cards you have lost.

“Well, it’s about time.” You are greeted by your dancestor, who seemed to be enjoying herself as she sits on the ledge of the building with a book. She wore her favorite pencil skirt and sweater with a sign on it. Her right horn was broken but it didn’t seem to faze her. “I only have a couple minutes to train you before they get back so let’s do this.”

She closes her book with a snap before looking around at her surroundings.

“First things first, it has been 17 days since Horror Night and about 80% of the population has been royally fucked in the ass because of it. Overcharge Drinkers, or OD, now roam the streets and will snatch up anything they hear or see. That’s why from now on, the floor is lava.”

“Okay…” I say, stepping closer to her, uncertain. 

Your Dancestor, Hikkup Hestya, was a librarian. You’re not really sure what she could teach you considering this being the first time she has stepped out of her library as far as you know. It’s not like you had a good relationship with her anyways. You’re not really sure why she’s here, is what you’re trying to convey.

“That’s my girl,” she says. She looks down at a guy on the ground. “Look, apparently he didn’t get them a memo… go loot his corpse.”

“What?!?”

“Did I stutter?”

I sigh, knowing it would be better to do what she says then to argue about it. You drop down the fire escape and run toward the poor fallen soul, in a hurry to unequip everything and anything he had. The most noticeable thing however is the totally rad shoes.

“You’re going to have to get used to looting bodies.” Hestya calls out. “Not to mention strifing. Here, I'll strife with you to help you tweak your skills.”

**= > Training montage**

You evaluate your opponent, your ancestor, who will start off with the power of 500 points, since this is practice. You draw your hand.

Drawing 2 kings, a ten, nine, and a seven. You now formulate the power move  **2 of a kind** which now allows you to double the sum of your cards when you have two of the same cards. So instead of having 52, you now have 104.

Now it's her turn. She draws her Ruler Kind, it being called “the Full Measure”. A hit on it’s own is 30 damage and it hurts. She pops you in the back of the thigh and in the shoulders.

Two nines, an eight, seven, and ten. 86. Hestya applauds you, but her hits are relentless. She hits you three times afterwards, causing you to hiss in pain. No pain no gain, she taunts.

You have grabbed a hand of junk, the jack being the highest. You have created a default move, allowing that if your hand doesn’t add up to more than 50, you can have the 50 damage instead. You call this move  **Card Junkie** . So instead of having 33, you now get the default 50.

Hestya only has 260 points left.

You are sure that you are going to welt up and prune with how much force is behind her blows. You hiss as she strikes you again. It hurts so bad you get spots in your vision. You have had worse but jegus, it never gets better.

You send her another chill 50, and she hits you again. You give her another fifty, and she lays on a special move, this move being able to come at me with all angles and find just the right angle to lay the smackdown ass whooping. You roll double 10, a jack, a five and six. 84.

“Heads up kid, it looks like we’re drawing in some company.” she chuckles with her cheesy smile spread across her face. From the corner of your eye you see the OD start to close in, thus making it more urgent than before. You shake with anticipation and curiosity.

You have drawn a  **3 of a kind** , which you will triple the sum of your cards. You're kind of concerned about this particular hand, seeing the numbers are still fairly low. You sigh, the number being lower than what you needed, so another 50.  _ And another. And another. _

The cycle goes on for a while, the strife being near relentless as i continued to fend off both the mutated fiends and my dancestor’s advances. When I'm finally defeated, she gifts me with a pat on the head and the choker she is wearing. 

“Not bad. Not bad at all.” she says with a smirk. “Now that you have that down pack, we can actually get started. I have some friends you need to meet.”

“Friends?”

“Yeah, meet me down at the skatepark at 10, don’t be late.” she says before disappearing. 


	3. => relive Horror Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hikkup Hestya is sitting in her library when something happens outside

**= > Relive Horror Night **

Tonight is Horror Night and you have decided to stay in your humble abode and read a book. Unlike your dancestor, you enjoy a good book. You live for it really, your scholarship allowing you to pursue your ambitions and studies. Your name is **Hikkup Hestya** .

As of right now, you are reading about your ancestor’s tale and her fate. A war hero turned into an unwilling blackrom trophy, a trophy turned into an alcoholic, an alcoholic turned into a shell, and a shell into a… tragic story. Some of the stories written seem to be embellished or exaggerated, but you don’t really mind, it added to the nuisance of her story. 

You are nearly done with the book when you are interrupted by your human kismesis, Jaxx. They kiss at your shoulder, wanting you to tear your attention from the book you have been reading for the last few hours. You sigh, closing your book and pushing your glasses back into place. He hums into your shoulder appreciatively.

**= > Tidy up**

Absolutely not! Everything's in its own organized mess, each pile of notes being placed in piles on the floor, alphabetically, chronogocoly, and topically. You could never.

And before you ask. Yes that included the pile of clothes on the floor. You have a pile of dirty clothes in front of the laundry room door, something you will work on in the near future. You sleep and read in the clean pile of clothes and any clothes thrown about are outfit situations just in case there had to be a reason for a specific outfit change.

You even have several origami of what used to be take out menus on a counter, your kismesis apparently thinking that you didn’t need them anymore as the bookmarks they originally were left between book pages. You order out every now and again, but most of the time you cook.

The outside of your living quarters however, was spotless and well kept. The day had been slow, allowing us to finish keeping the books, checking them, and putting them away before dusk even began to set.

Jaxxon doesn’t work in the library like you do, just lives there with you. Jaxon, like your dancestor, thinks books are a bore and constantly nags you to get a “better hobby”. Sometimes, just for fun, he spoils the book by telling you key plotlines or by spoiling the end. Other times, he makes fun of a book's story structure, punching holes within the plot or simply remarking about “how the movie did it better”.

No, he spends most of his day going out and wasting his time doing whatever he does, coming home with the intent to either eat, rest, or ravage. Luckily, today he wanted the former.

**= > Hear a ruckus outside**

You hear a crash outside before rushing to the window to see what it was, seeing nothing but a truck and a troll. The troll freaks out, grasping the handle of the truck as he begins to mutate. I watch as his face twists in pain as the metal and orange ooze becomes him.

The thing has the street tremble with every step it takes and the air splits when it roars.

**= > Watch**

As more and more of the people on the street begin to mutate and scream in agony, people begin to flee for cover and begin to lose themselves. You notice only a handful of people had made a mad dash for the lower level of the library, which was still open. You don’t mind that, of course, what you are worried about is the eighteen wheeler sized mutant terrorizing the streets.

It’s sores oozed and popped, creating more creatures and pools of the overcharge for it’s fellow minions to feast upon.

You watch as your local redneck neighbor pulls out his rifle (that is obviously large just to compensate for something else of his that he isn’t because his ego doesn’t do it enough) shoots at the beast before being carried off by a winged minion. The people on the streets screamed and ducked for cover, most of them not combat equipped this day and age.

You grab several books, your art supplies, and your phone before cramming them in your sylladex like one would cram 15 minutes before a test they didn’t study for. Jaxx groans, dragging you by your hand, telling you that we didn’t have time for this and you roll your eyes.

Jaxx pulls out an inconspicuous book from one of the shelves, causing the shelf to slide forward and reveal a secret passage. Jaxx pulls you into the cavern and you run as fast as you can down the staircase.

You absolutely love this library and all it’s hidden wonders.

Crash! Suddenly a car is flung through the window of the library, causing a fire to happen.

The mutant is flinging itself from building to building, making a real mess of the place as it’s spores erupt and more and more OD surface. Both you and Jaxx know that you are going to have to take it down at this rate.

But whoa and behold, Jaxx doesn’t have a weapon because he had “no time” to grab one, meaning once again, he is useless. But he tells you not to worry because he has a plan.

**= > Craft a plan**

Sometimes you wished that Hestya had a little more faith in you, sometimes you wish that she would send a compliment your way without you practically having to bend over backwards and kiss her feet to do so, sometimes Hestya is hot but other times she can be downright cruel.

Your name is  **Jaxxon Pierceton** and the way Hestya treats you sometimes is as if you are a child rather than her significant other. But you guess that’s what a kismesis is for… the tough-love power dynamic and stuff.

When you first met Hestya, you had accidentally spilled a Slushie on her literature report that she had spent a while on by accident, which you had a solid 2 hours debunking all her synopsis and takeaways after reading the draft. You tell her how dry and dull she sounded when she wrote, in contrast to her dancestor who wrote quirky stories whenever the mood hit her. The two contrasted in a way that made them both unique in your eyes. 

As payback for ruining her paper (which she ended up revidsing from the original copy and got a passing grade on while the other was barely passable), she dragged me to take her out to see several godawful plays and suffer through them.

Sometimes our debates would become heated and other times i would say just the right thing to spark an argument. There’s a fine transparent line between the two and i’m always teetering around it.

You get used to her patronizing you. The remarks that women would say to a child they were scolding, the “coddling” as if you were disabled, the explaining things because sometimes i say smart things that i don’t think your puny mind could comprehend.

You started to notice that her dancestor didn’t really appreciate the behavior either, causing them to have a more… complicated relationship. The two were quick to anger and arguments and violence, but when not at each other's throats they were a dynamic duo… for the most part.

Anyway, you were planning on staying in and possibly macking on your girlfriend but life had to ruin your plans. And now you are here. Fighting a large ass berserk monster. Hestya thinks you don’t have a weapon, but in fact I do. She just thinks they are dumb, but you think her “Full Measure” is dumb.

You’re very skilled in origami. It’s a hobby of yours… along with other nonsensical artwork out of random materials. This one time you made a series of jackets out of soda pop can tabs for charity… your piss came out rainbow colored for a good month afterward. Raised a lot of money though, more than Hestya made with her book drive.

What you are trying to say is that your weapons are basically origami… but you know kick ass.

**= > Fold!**

You quickly fold a weapon, deciding to have something that could pair up well with Hestya’s weapon, so you decide the best that you could so is a bladed weapon that can also be used as a long distance. You create a chain-whip sword.

You call it “Devo” which isn’t all that creative but whatever. It has a hit damage of 50 and if used correctly, can create a powerful hit-combo.

**= > Strife!**

You are Hestya again and you have devised a plan to move the beast to where you think would be necessary and then unleash a series of barrage attacks on it. Due to your ruler being blunt, you won't be able to do much damage to the beast but it is worth a try.

You see that Jaxx has gotten his hands on a ridiculous weapon, using it as a whip and taking any stray mutants that happen to be lingering in the behemoth. At least he’s being helpful but you don’t see a paper sword doing much in battle. 

It screams, maneuvering it’s way over to Jaxx, swinging it’s arm over any of the screaming individuals that happen to not be hiding by now. It’s scabs glowed and puffed, spawning more of it’s grotesque allies.

You use one of your signature moves  **“Guardian Angle”** to curb your enemies attacks, basically forcing it off the course that it is taking, using the many abandoned years of track to hasten my step. You silently thank those years of hurdles and agony but also fear that they may have heard you.

You are no in the beast’s line of sight, putting you in danger. You use the move  **“Prism Break”** that allows you to use a series of angles to hit your enemy and find a sweet spot or create an opening of some sort.

Jaxx sees that you are in need of assistance, apparently colonizing a special move of his own, allowing his sword to dislodge itself and create a whip. 

**= > Crack that whip!**

When something's going wrong, You must whip it! Both you and Hestya are fighting this beast, she is doing her best to get it where it needs to be, angling and maneuvering it so that I can deal it’s fatal blows. I use her Prism Break with my move “ **Shape it up** ” to box in the beast and give it hell. 

Eventually, the monstrosity got fed up with being ganged up on, smashing it’s robotic fist down on the ground as it growls, and jumps to a new location. Reading Hestya’s train of thought, You grab her by the waist and get us close as possible.

That’s when you noticed that her horn was chipped. She must’ve not noticed yet. You'll tell her after we’re done here.

**= > Feel ecstatic**

It didn’t take much for you to finish the beast down, it erupted into a pool of the mutagenic energy drink and grist. Immeasurable pleasure flooded your system, causing you to pull your kismesis towards you and commence a feisty ravaging on the roof the two of you currently occupy.

It isn’t until mid-consummation that he notifies you about your horn, when he tries to grab at it. You're a bit upset at the loss but you will live.

After your spontaneous hook up, you decide the best thing as of right now is for the two of you to go check up on our “familial” bonds. Jaxx gives you a kiss on the cheek before watching you hip roof and roof.


	4. => Return to being Hikkup

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hikkup is meeting a new friend. He has some tricks up his sleeve. With her help they do something to affect the who city.

**= > Hikkup: Go to the skatepark**

This “the floor is lava” stuff is harder than you thought it would be, especially with the gear you have on now. You manage to get to the skatepark but you are exhausted when you do. You don’t see Hestya anywhere but you do find a troll setting up a DJ station with his psionics.  _ He’s dressed a bit like a hipster. You think you’ve seen this guy before. _

“Yo.” he smiles, lowering his headphones and waving you over.  _ He looks about your age. _ You trot over to him, catching the carbonated water he gives you before cracking open his own Red Bull. “You must be the bodacious dame your dancestor told me about.”

“Um…?” You blush, bronze coloring your cheeks.  You are a bit conscious about how large your heftsacks are and how heavy you look but it’s nice to be complemented.

“My name is Eslove Ezquik.” he says, winking at me. The way he pronounces it sounds like “this love is quick” which makes his flirty nature make your cheeks burn even more.

“Oh… I’m Hikkup Hyssop.” You cringe at the double entendre that your name has. _ It’s not even a sexy one. _

“Music to my ears.” Eslove smirks. He had a strange way of talking but his words buttered you up in just the right way that makes it so you don’t mind. “Now listen, Kitten, because I got the word.”

“The word?”

“Bird’s the Word baby. My dancestor was cooking up something special before he wigged out and skedaddled.” he says with a smile. He hooks up his systems to some strange machines with Overcharge in them, there being one at each end of the pike. “Found something nasty in the Overcharge and narked to some yuppie upstairs, but they told him to not have a cow. Well, where's the beef now, right?”

“So he warned them and they still went on with the release?” I say, trying to follow.

“It’s not like they could put it on park? The fazers were already set to have fun.” he says. “A smooth move on their part. One big ol’ accident… but now they have to hit the curb and bounce before they would have to kiss their grits.”

“They had to do what?” I wince at his odd vocabulary.

“Hide the evidence, girl, or Kiss their ass goodbye. Keep up.”

“Oh…” I say, trying to wrap my head around everything. “So what are the machines for? What’s going on? Why do you need me?”

“Chillax, sweet thang,” he says, grabbing my hand and kissing it before leading me into the middle of the ramp. “These are called AMPS. Essentially EMPs are powered by the sweet licks that I decide to play. I just need you to look pretty, follow the pretty lights, dance a little, and protect the Vats of Overcharge from the OD as i testrun these babies. If this works out, there will be a sweet, sweet reward for ya.”

“Uh… okay, I’ll do my best.” I say, pretending I didn't see the wink he sent me.

“Radical.”

**= > Be a loser**

_ Hey! ...okay, fine. _

You are now the waiter at Sawtooth and Company… It’s not like you lost the job or anything, but it seems that “AWESOMEPOCOLYPSE” has put a damper on the establishment that you tried to withhold at the moment. Trapped with three other occupants, who seem to be going through their own turmoil at the moment, you are waiting on their hands and feet to keep them at bay as we try to figure something out. Your name is  **Sirius Corona.**

One occupant had broken into the adult section, popping open a flask, drinking himself stupid. He provocatively offers you some, even going as far as offering you a “body shot” but you decline.

Another occupant seemed to be looking for a signal so she can make a call, viciously sending messages to any and all numbers on her phone, hoping for some kind of news at this point. Good or bad. She snaps at you whenever you try to intervene.

You wipe your face on a towel, perspiring far worse than you would like to. _ It happens when you are stressed or nervous. _

The last one was a fellow employee who didn’t seem to mind being cooped up in here, right now trying to plug in some of the old arcade games we had in storage, having one of those creepy Lil’ Cal puppets dangling from her neck.

You watch her curiously, not really understanding her fascination with the games yourself but willing to admire her calm during what might be the end of the world. She goes behind a pinball machine to plug in the last game.

Everything seems to pick up, when the human girl on the cellphone screeches “I hear something!”, startling the drunk off the counter and onto the floor. She puts the phone on speakerphone, the phone playing some sort of strange music…

**= > Protect the Vats**

Your back to being Hikkup, gathering your wits and your cards, ready to do what you can. You take a deep breath and wait for him to start the music. As the beats begin to course throughout the whole park, you begin to hear the hisses of the OD. Eslove reassures you that all you have to do is follow the beat and kick your ass in gear.

**= > Observe**

A certain troll gave you the responsibility to look over her dancestor should anything ever happen to her, so you watch from the rooftops while loud ass music plays. The music wasn’t all that bad, it had a funky feel to it with a jazzy rhythm. A mixture of Jazz and Funk that might as well be called Junk.

The girl herself seemed to have a rocky start but as she synchronized to the music and evaluated her targets, she seemed to get the hang of it. You notice that she wasn’t athletic enough, low in cardio and flexibility, but she looked like she could take a hit or two. You might have something to help with that.

The surge from that machine was no joke either, probably enough to power several blocks. Which gives you an idea.

“Well done.” you smirk, creeping into the set.

**= > Damn Sam!**

That was awesome! 

You are a wicked flaxen blood with a groove built to move! With no bosses or rules, it’s time to play! Your name is  **Eslove Ezquik** and You prefer to look at things half-full, and refers to Sunset City's sudden turn-for-the-worse as the "AWESOMEPOCALYPSE". Yeah! 

You have been testing out some of your dancestors equipment, seeing how he wigged out after seeing what was going down behind closed doors at Fizzco. All this equipment will help you out in the long stretch.

You were paired up with a bodacious kitten named Hikkup and if she ain’t the bees knees. While this amp only acts as an EMP, you’re sure with the help you can create new amps that can do so much more.

And watching the bodacious babe dance to your sound made you feel warm where the sun doesn't shine. You can barely hide your gaze behind the wicked cool shades you have, licking your lips as you watch her roll her hips oh-so-sweetly. 

You had to start her off at first, but when the groove caught her… She's a bad mamma jamma. There isn’t anything hotter than someone who can appreciate some music and just let go when pressure builds up. Her cards sliced through her problems and allowed her to follow the funky flow, resonating with my rave lights that also acted as lasers that caused those OD suckers to go flat.

Anyway, after the test run, you call Hikkup over and hand her a cool fizz. You sip yours and watch her from the corner of your eye as she drinks.

“That was killer.”

“Yeah…” she gasps, out of breath.  _ Must not get out much. _

**= > Return to being the cobalt blood**

You return to being Sirius ...and then everything goes dead with a sizzling spark.

“No! What happened!” the girl cries out.

“There- there must've been a power outage of some sort… I can fix it! I can… yeah, I can fix it.” You force out, trying to avoid confrontation. _ That means that I would have to go outside though.  _

“Well, what are you waiting for? Go!” she says.

Your eye twitches.

“There’s no need to do that, Sirius. We can last a while without electricity.” says the troll near the outlet, sliding out from under the machines.

“No… it’s fine.”

**= > Check the power**

You quickly open the door heading to the power generator, looking both ways for any creepy crawlies. You hurry and try to see what the problem is, making little changes here and there, turning off any no essentials and rerouting power where it's needed.

When you’re done, you turn the power back on and turn around to be greeted with a punch to the face.

**= > Be Wary**

You return to being Eslove, analyzing your results and trying not to check out a certain kitten.

“Well done,” a carpacian chuckles, walking toward us. He comes up and ruffles Hikkup’s hair. Dude looked like an uppity batcaver. “But what else am I to expect from the LastShot’s grub?”

“Slow your roll.” I growl, not liking how he casually strides in. “Who are you?”

“Name’s Two Hat Jack, I trade in gear. Lot has happened in 17 days and I'm the guy that has the goods to keep you living longer. For a price, obviously.” Jack looks Hiccup up and down, creepin’ on her. He takes off one of his hats and pulls out some sneakers.

“These will help you out. Made for running and bouncing around.” he says, tossing them at Hikkup. He pulls out an outfit for her, it being more on the skater babe category. Like that ain’t creepy at all. “Put this on.”

“Uh… okay?”

Hikkup looks uncomfortable but goes off to put on the outfit anyway, leaving me with the scumbag. He smirks with his jabberjaw teeth at you, his hands getting to 2nd base with all of my equipment.

“You know junior, I am the Chuck Greene of Sunset City.”

“And what does this mean?” My psionics flaring a bit.

“It means I have an assload of duck tape and the technical know-how to make weapons from just about anything. Want a launcher that deploys water-sprinkle balloons with flesh-eating acid? Sure! What about a firecracker submachine gun that explodes enemies into a Fourth-of-July spectacular? Whaddya know, just got one stocked just for you.” 

You ain’t liking how this dude is smiling. Feels like he’s yanking your chain and treading on your heels at the same time.

“You got some nice stuff going on here, so I suggest...” he licks the shives he calls teeth. “We work together. I collect Overcharge for your silly machines and you set up safe havens for everyone so I can exploit them. It’s a win/win.”

Something told me that if I said no, I would be getting more than a Snuff and Eye Jammy.

**= > Be Clueless**

You return to being Hikkup and you return to find Eslove and Jack in a death grip handshake. You notify them that you are done changing… not really seeing why you had to change in the first place.  _ At least the outfit is cute. _

The outfit was labeled “It’s a combat skirt” despite it actually being a full blown dress. Well sorta, it was light, one of the sleeves missing and had shorts underneath, which you appreciated. Eslove gives you the cheekiest smile when you step out and you blush.

“Ah, marvelous.” Jack smiles. “Now how about running some errands for good ol’ Uncle Jack?”

“What kind of errands?” I ask, cocking an eyebrow. I immediately wince, knowing that I didn't really want to do anything for this guy. _God I hate myself_ _But he gave me these clothes so it's the least I can do…_ _I hate going out of my way though._

“Nothing too difficult, my dear.” Jack smiles. “I enjoy collecting the tabs off of Overcharge cans, loverboy here collects Overcharge… so we made a little bit of a deal.”

“And… what do i get out of this?”

“Hm… that depends, what do you want?”

_ That is a good question… What do I want? _

**= > Be Concerned**

_ Sirius hadn’t returned yet. _

It’s been about an hour since the power went back on and yet he hasn’t returned. Something in your gut says something is terribly wrong.

The drunk had seemed to realize this as well, drunkenly calling out for the “sweaty blue-babe”. The girl on the phone snaps at him to be quiet, viciously typing on her phone for something… anything.

And then suddenly, there’s something.

A blip on her phone with a message: YOUR FRIEND HAS BEEN CAPTURED


	5. => Watching them

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> someones watching them from behind the scenes

**= > Watching them**

Behind the shades and through the lens of a certain anamontronic’s eye, a continuous zoom in enhances until it reveals the man behind them but far deeper within the city.

Every breath you take, every move you make, every bond you break, and every step you take… there's a good chance that i am watching you.

You’re waiting for Fizzco to make their move, cause you know that they’re going to. They already closed off Sunset city. They’re going to make the call, you just have to intercept it.

Luckily, your dancestor had connections, substantial ones and while you don’t want to go full on Hunger Games on everyone, you know Fizzco will try to undermine your whole operation if you didn’t.

So you sit in your tower and wait. And watch.

**= > Go back to being Hikkup**

From what I can tell, we are on the farthest east of Sunset City, about 15 minutes away from the beach at this point. Meaning that it will take a good while to get into town and tons of encounters with those gross ODs. Which I could live without. Or could stop living with altogether.

_ Hm… the beach. I wonder if that’s ruined now that the AWESOMEPOCLYPSE is upon us?  _

Cars were scattered all over the streets, now abandoned by their owners who had tried to use them to get out of dodge. Hoping on the hoods when i couldn’t find a street rail, billboard, or building that i could parkour off of, i had to be careful not to sound off any alarms.

In alleyways, there seemed to be these swollen, pulsing pods over overcharge idly sitting there, and peppered in random areas were pools of the toxic drink. Despite the drink being out in the open… none of it’s drinkers were.


	6. => Be a classy highblood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> after your store is raided you move out and decide to go elsewhere

**= > Be a classy highblood**

Piece by piece, snip by snip/ Croup, dock, haunch, shoulders, hip / Thread by thread/ primed and pressed/ Yard by yard, never stressed... except right now, you are extremely stressed. Your name is  **Deasia Ragnar** .

Not too long ago, you were harrassed by some survivors of “Horror Night” now dubbing themselves as “Scabs”. And now you have blood on your clothes.

On the brightside, people are willing to kill in order to get their hands on some battle wear, especially if it will increase their stats. Not many people can pull off what styles I provide but they don’t need to know that.

You quickly clean up before someone finds out that your blood is a bit brighter than it supposed to be. It’s more of a Cerise the Fuschia… meaning that it’s not purple but red.

It’s not like you would be culled for it but in this economy, you need every leg up that you can get and fuschias are able to bend certain corners that you need.

**= > Look around**

You looked around running your hand through your hair your shop now trashed, looks like a hoofbeast went wild in here. You looked at the knocked over and broken mannequins and torn dresses and clothes along with some destroyed fabric.  _ Good thing you kept most of it in the back behind locked doors. _

**= > Check out the mannequins**

_ At least the door wasn't broken.  _ You think as you board up the windows long ago so the things couldn't break the glass and get in. You sighed starting to set back up and clean the shop up. You couldn't have it be a mess like this for potential people. Unfortunately, one of your mannequins has lost their arms. You put it in a chest for safe keeping, perhaps you can make some gloves later.

You checked on the other mannequins to see if they could be fixed, trying to give zero shots that you are in the middle of a the zombie apocolypse or whatever the fuck those nasty things are. You are a strong independent business woman who aint afraid to fuck shit up.

You might have to set up quarters soon, seeing as you can see your stores in the area being looted and you swear you see the blood of others and oh god the zombies. You frustratedly sighed as you started to pack things into your sylladex to find somewhere a bit safer.

_ A chest of food and rations? _ Check.

_ Mannequin arms? _ Check.

_ Tape measure? _ Check.

You decide the best way to move throughout the area would probably be through your fire escape as you put your tape measure on hand for strifing along with a back up knife in your back pocket, just in case. You went upstairs to your room to grab photos and a couple blankets for sleeping with a pillow, probably having to abandon your cute little shoppe until something clears out the area. You pass by a shelf, a music box from your grubhood catching your eye.  _ It could come in handy, _ you tell yourself as you grab it.

You climb up the fire escape and up to the roof, looking over Sunset City. You live on the high blood end of town, home to brightly lit shops, beautiful billboards, lavish houses, and large platforms. From where you are standing, you see a large surge of electricity go in the FRUITY RUMPUS ASSHOLE FACTORY district.

It’s not the first place you planned on heading but it will do.


	7. => Be kidnapped

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You were just recently kidnapped... now what?

**= > Wake up with a blue eye**

Your eye is swollen like all hell, your hands are handcuffed in the most bdsm-looking cuffs you have ever seen, and to top it all off… you are looked inside a cage in the middle of OD infested territory. You would cry if it wouldn’t attract unwanted attention. God how are you going to get out of this mess?

“Are you sure someone will take the bait?”

“Someone did for all the others. If not, it’ll be a hall of a show.” 

“It’s a shame, this one’s sorta cute. I bet the boss would have tons of fun with him.”

“I thought you were upset that he tossed you aside like a toy.”

“He wouldn’t last a day, even if they were pale.”

Your heart stops all together. They couldn’t be talking about- oh god… i might be in a worse situation then i thought… Well, certain death was what I originally thought but a forced quadrant could be even worse. Oh god, the last time I had a quadrant it was a one-sided blackrom with a popular girl where she forced me to do her homework in exchange for kisses.

_ Either way, I am royally fucked. _

The bandits seemed to notice my panic attack, one kicking at the bars with “Hey, quit it. If OD starts showing up, I won't hesitate to toss you right at them.”

Which, quite frankly, didn’t help the situation.

**= > Be passing through**

You return to being Hikkup Hyssop, passing through and getting the hang of this parkour thing that you have going on. Jumping from place to place and grinding on bars is really charging up your kicks, causing the cards within your sylladex to charge up when used. The combos seem to only burn out when your feet touch the ground. 

As you pass by the lower regions of the city, you start to notice the chaos that has taken over the city. Most cars, busses. Anything really seemed to be abandoned, some tipped over, others vandalized. Billboards advertise the very product that destroyed the city, it’s mascot staring down at everyone while mocking us. Trash littered the streets more than usual, and true dystopian vibes washed over the city.

_ It didn’t take long for everyone to go savage _ , is what you think.  _ A real Lord of the flies scenario, huh? _

As you pass you hear a couple thugs surrounding a cage, kicking at it and throwing slurs to the individual in it. They threaten his life, causing the poor troll to beg and plead and sob, causing them to get even more pissed.

Keep pushing, pretend you don’t see them.

I throw one of my charged up cards at the bandit’s feet before I jump off and onto the ground before them, drawing my cards. The bandits had weapons on them as well, getting ready for a strife.

“Let him go.” I say, despite literally feeling like I'm about to shit my pants.  _ How does Batman do this? How does anyone really? _

Shut up, you know this isn’t your first time. Remember how you used to be a bully in elementary school because you felt inadequate? Or how about middle school after you threw a party and no one showed up? When you got into a fight with some bully because they were bullying an acquaintance of yours? That one happened on multiple counts. Or when you threatened to gouge out the guys throat, deep fry it and feed it to him? That happened a couple times too. Or how you threatened a hit on some kids who thought it would be funny to throw fruit at you? Or really, any of your temper tantrums?

You draw a hand of Junk, 10 plus 5 plus 4 plus 9 plus 11 equals 39 so I round up to 50, throwing my cards at the scabs. The scabs didn’t seem to take this too kindly, a scab full on punching me in the stomach with their bronze knuckles. I groaned at the contact, deciding that I should fight back twice as strong. 

5 plus 11 plus 7 plus 3 plus 5 doubled equals 62. Using my fist, I make sure to make him pay, punching square in the jaw. He stumbles back and I take the moment to draw again. 

4 plus 4 plus 4 plus 1 plus 10 equals 23 times 3 equals 69. I decided to split that into 3 just for the occasion, punching him in the face again then kneeing him in the gut and a headbut for extra measure. He retaliates with a punch to my sternum, knocking the air out of my lungs.

Around us, our fight has started to stir up attention, hissing filling the air. One of the scabs grabs my rival's shoulder, warning them. They look around, seeing some of the OD climb out of the sewer.

“Dude, we need to go… now.”

The scabs seem to nod in understanding before booking it. I draw a card of a king and throw it on the lock in the cage, freeing the blueblood. I shoosh-pap his crying face and hold out my hand, helping him up and out like one might do a frightened animal.

“We need to clear a path and get going.” I state. “Got a weapon?”

The blueblood shakes his head causing me to sigh outright.

Should’ve just left him. Curse me for being a nice person.

“Alright then, i guess i have no choice… stay behind me.”

**= > Watch the spectacle**

You sit behind your computer monitors, watching what looks like a bronze blood shielding the blueblood that is 2 feet taller than she is. It looks ridiculous, seeing the little low blood shield the sweating mid-blood, pathetic even.

Her bangs hide her face as she raises her hands but you can see it, what might be the meanest poker face in the face of danger ever.

**= > Strife!**

With no other means of escape, you decide to create a sure fire way to get you out of the situation it is. Using both hands, you generate a deck, and you create what you will now call the Quick-draw Strife Deck.

52 cards in each hand, random draw but quick reload. It’s the best and only shot that we have. Hell, if i need to i might have to burst out my pokership-kind. Fuck the damage it will cause.

Without getting into unnecessary details, i’ll spare you the adding and jump straight into the action, starting with just sorta straight up fucking kicking ass, slicing through the enemies quickly with my cards, looking for an exit. 47, 13, 20, 60, 66, 28, 29, 22, 60, 54, 122, 66.

“Quickly.” The blueblood says, grabbing my wrist and dragging me towards an alleyway. He picks me up and tosses me up the fire escape, ushering me to climb to higher grounds. “We’ll use the rooftops to work our way to the underground substation, we should be able to use the tracks to cut through town. It’s the safest guaranteed route.”

I look around, trying to wrap my head into what I have gotten into but sighs, not having any other plan. _ I guess while i’m up here…  _

“Fine… but if this gets us killed…”

“I’ll take full responsibility.”

“Yeah, you better.”

You switch to poker chip kind, throwing it up and at the right time, flicking it toward the menacing pursuers before grinding against the rails of the top of the buildings and using my parkour to get to our destination. The blue blood used the fire escapes and hopped from roof to roof, keeping it safe, which means that I had to cover his ass as he made his way.

You're running low on cards but right when you duck into the subway, you use the very last of them before drawing a poker chip and flicking it.

“We can shred down the subway railings all the way to Rainbow Rumpus PartyTown.”

“The datenight plaza?”

The Rainbow Rumpus PartyTown date night plaza is a bit of a sore-memory place for you. Many awful times going to movies alone, too many awkward friend-dates, almost dating a serial killer , and being stood up only to decide to go to the local pizzeria to drown your sorrows in breadsticks with alfredo and queso sauce.

You hear the hiss of an OD in the tunnel, causing the both of you to look back. A radioactive orange glow begins to appear far down the tunnel.

**= > Shred**

You grab the blueblood’s hand, shredding down the rails as fast as you possibly can. The bluebloods eyes don't leave the OD in the tunnel, however, clinging onto you for dear life. If you weren’t so scared at the moment, you would be flattered.

The OD looked like a long snake with no eyes. It had blisters with oozing pores rubbing against the walls, as if they were to ooze out pools of the mutative drink and spawn in allies if it weren’t in a cramped tunnel. It wriggled, showing it’s difficulty in movement and momentum. It’s probably the result of a bunch of people fleeing into the subway only to be exposed to Overcharge and merging together after they began to mutate.

**= > Fall in love**

The moment she shooshpapped you, you were head over heels in love. Well, you’re not sure it’s love but your blood pusher throb something fierce and STRONG. The lowblood has no right being this confident, but she’s remarkable. You loathe putting her in danger, you love how she’s protecting you, and yet there something you can’t quite tap into. You feel… ashamed for being too weak to fend for yourself, that you have nothing to offer her. You feel useless and you hate it.

She’s so graceful as she shreds down the railings, the sparks flying and highlighting the green speckles her eyes. She’s focused on getting out of here sure, but she is risking her life to save you when she could have just left you. Most others wouldn't've done the same.

_ She’s like a superhero or something. Absolutely next level. _

You don’t even know her name yet.

**= > an opening**

“There’s the opening.” I call out, excited.

“Okay, but aren’t you out of cards?”

_ Oh yeah.  _ I turn around, grabbing on of my poker chips and wait for the perfect moment to flick it, the charge of grinding an almost 12 minute ride.  _ Closer, closer, closer. Fire! _

**= > WTF?**

PTWOOO!

Instead of blowing up like a grenade, she shot it like a fucking missile. Or an exploding bullet, it piercing and digging into and embedding itself into the OD before going off and exploding. The flames erupt out of the substation as the two trolls rush out of it, thousands of pieces of grist filling the pockets of the unquestionable strife winner.

_ That… was something. Completely something. _

**= > Inspect**

The datenight plaza was trashed. Like super trashed. The Rainbow Rumpus PartyTown consists of tons of “hotspots” that couples would go to makeout and possibly dry hump each other… not that you know from experience. It’s a hipster's wet dream for sure, someone saw this in a movie or something and was like “lets create a small town inside a small town, everyone would love it!” and was wrong.

Like this would be fine if it was just a hangout spot… but it isn’t. Like this place is specifically for romantic and sexually charged quadrants. Like if you planned a pale date here, you would be teased for being virgins or asked constantly about if your vaculating or the sarcastic “okay” with a nod as they know something you don’t. You usually get shamed for being here if you're not on a date which sucks bulge.  _ Like oh, I'm sorry that the movie theatre is in the date night plaza, what? Am I supposed to wait until it reaches dvd? _

… I might still have a sore spot about this place.

Anyway. Yes, the date night plaza.

Usually scented with the smell of Churned dairy product lubed explosion kernels from the movie theatre, each shop had something to offer. Diners that serve meals from milkshakes so thick that you have to eat it with a spoon to the best fries on whatever coast we’re in or apple pie so good that you’d slap your momma. Roller Rinks that smell like sterilized feet. Paintball tournaments. Movie theatre. 

And yes… of course, the minigolf pizzeria arcade, Sawtooth and Company.

**= > Enter**

You open the door for you and the lowblood, ducking into the establishment. You stand there for a moment to catch your breath before laughing hysterically. You’re alive! You hug her without really thinking or asking her consent but it seems that she might not mind since she doesn't do anything.

“You were… so Awesome!” you say, letting her go. You step back, wiping your hands on your shirt, hoping they aren’t so sweaty that she wouldn’t want to shake it. She looks at it for a moment before taking hold of it. “My name is Sirius Corona.”

_ Her hands are so small. _

“Hi, I’m Hikkup Hyssop.”

**= > Be Hikkup**

You return to being the bronze blood, shaking the blueblood's hand. He tries his hardest not to have any pressure, like as if he’s afraid to squish it. The blood rising to his face is unsettling but you know he means well.


	8. => Behold Sawtooth and Company

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Exactly what the title implies

**= > Access the scene around you**

Sirius leads from the back, into the main building. He tells you to relax for a moment as he goes and alerts the others of your presence.

You see that the Arcade had gotten an absolute overhaul game-wise, as if someone had been rearranging the games in an attempt to make them all fit the massive room. The prize and ticket desk and the bar counter had been turned into a pile of some sorts, probably for them to sleep.

The dining room for the pizzeria had been completely moved out, the only thing left where it’s supposed to be is the jukebox. The signature robotic figures stood on the stage… well all of them except Sawtooth who seemed to have moved… and no not like in a creepy way… at least you hope not…

The place was definitely the kids equivalent of a good time. Hell, even as a teenager, you would come down here for a slice of pizza and a couple holes of golf to have a good time. Nowadays however, you just… grew out of it.

**= > be the drunk hipster**

You’re not going to dignify that with a reaction.

Ever since Big Blue had gotten kidnapped, you have sobered up substantially. The last couple days without him just hasn’t been the same.

Fast food places usually have enough food for days when they aren’t you know… serving hundreds of people, so you when the apocalypse hit you were lucky enough to be in a place surrounded by them. You ducked into your most favorite first, leading you to where you are now.

Blue is a saint in the kitchen, using all the ingredients they have to make whatever he could so you wouldn’t get sick of it. The pizzeria had a wide selection of 32 different pizzas on the menu alone, but Blue made it much more awesome. Not to mention the sides that could be a meal on its own… 

Yeah, gamer chick knows how to make all the sides… but it doesn’t taste the same. You’ve experienced this before with coffee. You don’t really like the stuff but when you get it, it has to be made a certain way and when it's not made right it makes me sick.

_ … I swear I'm not picky, it just sounds like I am. _

At first, you didn’t take this zombie apocalypse thing all that seriously, thinking it would blow over as soon as CrokerCorp of Fizzco gets an earful about it… but now you’re not so sure. If it’s bad enough that people have already resorted to kidnapping people, we might have a major problem on our hands.

You’re ears twitch, sensing that an unauthorized someone has entered the pizzeria. You bare your fangs and get into a pounce position. When the intruder walks into the room, you pounce on him with all your might, biting into their arm.

The intruder cries out and you growl at them, to show them you mean business.

You then realize that it’s Big Blue.

He looks scared for a moment and in pain. He looks at you and you instantly feel like an asshole, releasing his arm and getting off of him. He hears your whimper of regret as you apologize with a “I’m sorry, Blue.”

“It’s alright.” he says, looking around. You notice that Blue’s not alone this time, wandering up to the troll with a “Who’s your friend, Blue?” 

She blushes, stuttering a greeting, “Oh… hi-hello… My name is Hikkup.”

“Hiccup?”

“Yeah, but instead of c’s their k’s.”

“Ooh, quirky.”

“If you think so.” She shrugs.

“I’m Kendall.” 

“It’s… nice to meet you.”

“Likewise.”

Both you and Hikkup tag team patching Blue back up, you apologizing and him reassuring that it’s okay.  _ Bue’s so easy going, it makes you feel like the biggest dick in the universe. And not in a good way. _

“It seems the power is back on.” Sirius assessed, turning and opening his mouth to ask a question before being cut off with a snobby “No thanks to you.” 

You groan, your ears pinning to your head. _ When will the nightmare end? _

Here she is, the royal pain, still using her damn phone to call whoever she’s so desperate to reach, refusing to give it up. The closest she got to talking to the person was when she waited for the 4th ring, it answered, she said hello and it hung up. It’s obvious whoever she’s calling is fed up with her shit.

_ And who wouldn’t be? _

She has done nothing but bitched and complained since we have gotten trapped in here. Not only that but due to her bitching, Big Blue basically bends over backwards to kiss her ass. It seriously pisses you off.

_ … whoa, lost your cool for a moment.  _ You run your hands through your hair and fix your shades back onto your face.  _ Bring it back. _

“Now that you are stuck in here… I want answers. Like who said you were allowed to bring her here? How do you expect to take responsibility for her? What if she is a thief or a murderer?” says drama queen, poking her finger into Sirius’s chest. “Also, aren’t you supposed to be STRONG? How did you get yourself kidnapped?”

“Well… you see… Well, she saved my life so i thought…”

“You thought? Well, obviously you didn’t think this thought out well enough.” she says. Sirius opens his mouth to defend himself but she covers his mouth with her hand with a “I don’t want to hear it. All you’re going to do is come up with excuses and i don’t have time for that.”

You growl under your breath and you see Hikkup’s visible confusion. Sirius looks down at the floor defeated before ushering out an apology.

“Much better… now that you are back… make yourself useful, for the last few days we have had nothing but chicken wings and if i have to stomach any more of it, i will lose my mind. Also take a shower, you're gross and sweaty.”

**= > Be understandingly upset**

You are Hikkup and you are debating punching a bitch in the throat. You’ve only known Sirius for a few hours and everything about him makes sense.You just watched him apologize for being kidnapped…  _ like who does that?  _ It’s clear by the way he just responds to torment that he is taken for granted and acts like a roll out carpet because people treat him like one.

Looking at Sirius, you notice that his blood type is not teal but not Blue and Not Indigo. It’s like… strange, to be honest, but it makes you think of yourself and how you are not completely bronze blooded.

Sirius turns to you.

“Would you like to take a shower? It’s a communion shower… so I'm about to hop in myself but you can join if you’d like?”

“Oh… sounds good.”

Kendall looks at the two of you with surprise and then a smirk of understanding. He wrapped his arms around Sirius with a “Keep your hands to yourself in there, Blue, or I’ll get jealous.” Which Sirius waves off with a blush.

He leads me into the kitchen and out back into a small separate building where it looks like the workers put their stuff, shower, and relax. Like a small workroom building.

“What was that earlier?” You ask him when you are alone. He insists on letting the water run for a moment before getting undressed and stepping in. “Why did you apologize?”

“I don’t know. It seemed like the easiest answer at the time. It was better then getting her all riled up for no reason. She is right… I should be STRONG… but I'm not because I'm not an indigo blood.”

“Oh…” you fiddle with the bottom of your skirt. “If you don’t mind…”

“Well, it’s a little hard to explain. The hemospectrum is already broken down to the twelve colors as you know. Rust, Bronze, Gold, Lime, Olive, Jade, Teal, Blue, Indigo, Purple, Violet… and more acceptable nowadays, Red. Between these colors are blurred lines that nobody really touches. Like how Cerulean is Blue and not Teal and how Fuschia is Violet but Pink is Red? It makes blood color harder to locate in the caste system…” he explains. “The best i can give you is that i am between Cerulean and Blue.”

“Oh… well… I'm not completely bronze blooded either… so I guess we have that in common.” I say, rubbing your neck as you take off my clothes.

“I noticed… you have lime colored speckles in your eyes, in the right lighting… your eyes turn lime.” he says, blue dusking his face. This catches you off guard, causing you to drop everything and cover your eyes.

You begin hyperventilating…

_ You thought you hid your color so well… Limebloods had been slaughtered from existence and in a desperate attempt to survive, the blood color mutated itself to red. However, it didn’t stop them from culling. Lime and red are basically the worst colors to have in the hemospectrum… if what Sirius says is true… then you would’ve been culled years ago… hell, it’s hard getting a job as a lime or red blood now! _

“I’m sorry, I didn't mean to upset you,” Sirius says, coming up behind me, covering me with a towel. 

“No… i’m overreacting.”

“You’re not. After reassessing what I had said, I realized that I may have said something insensitive.” he says. “Humans call this color, Hazel, a color that is neither brown nor green. It is a mutation of sorts to them as well. I didn't mean to point out your inadequacies like that. I find your eyes endearing.”

“Well, I don't. You want to hear something…? My name is Hikkup Hyssop. Anyway you translate it, you get nonsense. Hikkup isn’t even a word, it's a misspelling. An error. A hiccup. And Hyssop is a herb they use in cough syrup and used in human purification ceremonies. A hiccup remedy. My name is to remind me that I am an error. A mistake. Isn’t it funny?”

Sirius’s eyes dilate, him helping me into the showers. He sits me down and washes my hair, trying to put me at ease by chirping at me. It goes appreciated.

“I was raised by humans, they named me Sirius, but my name is Cirrus. They thought it would be best to change my name after hearing the meaning behind it…”

Cirrus… like the cloud? Cirrus Corona… Corona… that means a lot of things really… but if it has a bad meaning… it could be a “Crown of Clouds” or a “Clouded Body Part” which could only be translated to a “Clouded mind” because i couldn’t really imagine any other part being clouded… or a Corona like a glow around darkness or just a glow in general… A clouded glow?

Thinking about both sound belittling. If my name means “clouded mind” or “clouded glow”, I’d want my name changed to.

“Sirius Corona, doesn’t make sense when translated.” he says. “The name “Sirius'' means glowing or scorcher in Greek, it originally being the hunting dog of Orion the hunter. In latin, it means burning. In any line up it wouldn’t make sense.”

“Glowing mind” “scorching mind” “burning mind” “glowing glow” “scorching glow” “burning glow”.

He’s right. 

“They all make you sound too hot to handle.” i say, trying to cheer him up. He laughed half-heartedly at my pun.

“I guess so. Whatever the case, I see why my human parents wanted to change my name to something more light-hearted, but it doesn’t diminish the weight of the situation.”

“... I’m not so sure about that. Perhaps when they changed your name, they wanted to turn you from a “clouded mind or glow” to a “scorching mind or burning glow”, brightening up not only your name but their expectations of you.” i say, looking up at him.

From this angle, I could see Sirius’ face better. His large puppy dog face and eyes, but also that he was chiseling out some of his features. He looked like an easy going, lovable dork and every part of that makes you want to squish his cheeks.

“We… we should hurry up. We’ve been in here for a while now.” I say, blushing down at the ground.

“Oh… yeah! Okay?!?” Sirius says. “Oh… Hikkup… sometimes hyssop is used for more than just cough syrup… some people find it soothing and others use it infused in honey and liquor products… so uh… even if you were a mistake, you’d be a soothing one?”

“... thanks. I needed that.”

**= > Be listening in**

_ Well… that was… pale. Like, really pale. _

_ These two only knew each other for what… a couple hours. How did they..? _

For some reason that really grinds your gears.

Your name is Anomie Alvera and you are kinda concerned. You met Sirius back when he was forced in a black quadrant by some girl, acting as his auspistice when things got out of hand. You’ve been his best friend ever since.

Your Lil’ Cal slumps off my shoulder, letting me know that I had overstayed my welcome. You go back into the Arcade and wait for them. Kendall gives you a scandalized look, knowing that it didn’t take 45 minutes to take a shower but says nothing like always.

When they return, Sirius makes a beeline for the kitchen, making fresh dough and sauce and proportioning rations. He really thinks ahead, wanting to make sure there’s enough food for everyone for the next few days.

_ At Sawtooth and Company, we do everything by hand. From shredding our own cheese to making our own dough, because we believe in quality.  _

Sirius takes this motto seriously as well as the code for hospitality. He hates confrontation and often oversteps his bound when it comes to trying to make you feel at ease. He’s afraid to disappoint. Like a dog in a way.

This made him an easy target all throughout his life.

“Hey… are you okay?” you ask, coming up behind him as he shreds the cheese.

“I was kidnapped and used as bait and almost ravished by OD.” he answers rather than giving a yes or no. “But otherwise, I’m dandy.” 

“I told you that you didn’t need to go out there, we could’ve gone into the basement and used the emergency generator.”

“But it wasn’t an immediate emergency?” he says, carefully measuring out everything. “And to be honest, the basement creeps me out.”

“Fair… but immediate emergency or not… You didn’t need to go.” I say, grabbing the cheese he had set out and begin shredding it. “I was worried about what happened to you. Kendall was too.”

“I’m sure.”

“Hey, I'm being serious. We thought we’d never see you again, and then you come back with some stranger.”

“She saved me.”

“Just because she saved you doesn’t mean she’s a good person.”

“Don’t you think i know that?” Sirius says, slamming his fist on the counter, denting it. “It’s just like, just because i’m a blueblood doesn’t mean that i’m kickass or STRONG or anything else anyone wants me to be.”

You look at the dent in the counter. You would protest that if Sirius truly wanted to, he could reach overwhelming amounts of strength. That the only thing holding him back was his insecurity. But after hearing what you did… you don’t think you’re the right person to do so.

**= > Return to being Hikkup**

You watch the other troll in the room play Dance Dance Revolution, showing off her dancing abilities as she stepped on the brightly lit up tiles, almost as if they had turned on the game just to impress and show off.

“Like what you see?” Kendall purrs, coming up behind you. You blushes, averting your eyes with a squeaky, “No… i was just looking.” before he leans in closer and whispers in your ear “Wanna go around?”

You squeak, jumping and shoving him away.  _ He’s just a little too much for you right now. _

“Aw, c’mon. There’s no need to be shy. We’re all shut in here, might as well get to know each other.” Kendall says. “Yo, Amonie! Hikkup wants to dance with you.”

Amonie looks over their shoulder, finishing the song she was previously playing and taking a swig of water before nodding to the dance panels next to her. She looks you up and down, before turning to select a song.

“Don’t worry. Just follow her lead and you’ll be fine.” Kendall says, practically shoving you onto the panel. As the song pops on, you watch the dance icons and her from the corner of your eyes. Amonie looks at you for a moment before beginning, not holding back.

**= > Dance or Die: My Only Shining Star**

You're Amonie and this is your test for her. 

_ If she wants Sirius’ pale quadrant she’s going to have to earn your blessing. You’re not going to tell her that of course, this is the first test after all. _

When she steps up to the panel, you begin the song, not letting her read the directions. She seems intimidated by this, looking at you for instruction.  _ Silly girl, this a dance battle. Even if you’re just a beginner, you’ll get no mercy from me. _

She watches carefully, catching on quite quickly. The dance sequence on the screen and the one that are on the panel mostly sync up, but there are hidden foot movements, like a turn that she doesn’t see. Or a twist. But since she’s watching you as well, she can see when you do it and follows suit. 

You're reaching your 174 combo when you decide to take it up a notch and she pushes herself harder to match your pace, not being quite there yet. You’re admittevely impressed.

When the 234 combo hits, you allow Hikkup to finish off strong, and she seemed to appreciate it. Out of the corner of your eye, you see Sirius and when the music ends, the both of you salute in the finishing pose.

Kendall whoops and Sirius is wide-eyed. Hikkup is bronze in her cheeks and out of breath.

“So… what do you think, Blue? Did she shine bright?”

Sirius sputters a bit before hiding his face in his hands, announcing that food was ready. Hikkup groans with relief.

“That was… fun. Perhaps we’ll do it again sometime.” Hikkup says, holding out her hand. 

“Yeah. But i won’t go easy on you.”

**= > Be Exhausted**

You take your bed out of your sylladex, placing it down next to the jukebox. Your muscles are screaming in agony as you plop down on it. Today has been hectic and you’re sure that tomorrow would be the same.

“So… what’s with all the stuffed animals?”

“I collect them. I enjoy their company.” you explain, hugging Vanilla close, despite him being absolutely tiny compared to your size. “Each one of them is a friend of sentimental value that I cherish with my very being. However, this is not limited to just stuffies.”

“I see. You’re like a child in that regard.”

“Not at all… once i get attached to something, it’s hard to let it go. Not only that but once something makes an imprint on me, I never forget it. For example, once I was a wriggler, I had two adoring friends who fought for the same quadrant… However I'm not sure what quadrant… i exchanged kisses with both of them multiple times but was never sure if it was supposed to be pale or red. I also remember my first crush and how beautiful his green eyes were, probably because that’s what I fell in love with. Simple things like that.”

“A sentimental person.” Kendall smirks, liking that answer. He sits at the foot of the bed, looking over my shoulder at the screensaver on my laptop, which had transformed into a picture of ResistablyComplicated after a… makeout session? You wouldn’t call it a makeout session but definitely a confession of some sorts. He’s beaten and bloodied but sexy for sure in this photo, chapstick and love bites all over. Kendall quivers and eyebrows before going “I hope you can hold me close to your heart one day.”

“Make a good impression on me and I might.”

“Did you hear that, Blue?” Sirius jumps at Kendall’s call out, flushing cobalt. “Why don’t you come and join this cuddlefest?”

“Well… um… I don't want to intrude.”

“Nonsense,” Kendall says. “It looks like she’s dozing off anyways… at least come hold her hand until she goes to sleep.”

“I’m not tired.” you say through a yawn. This happens far too often when you're comfortable.  And not necessarily just then, you do it in the car, when you're bored, when you are left alone for too long, and on a rare occasion when you are talking to someone. You would do it all the time with Zack and ResistablyComplicated, leaving yourself defenseless. Luckily, neither one of them would take advantage of you during this time.

“Of course you’re not.” Sirius sits by you, petting your head. Any other time, you would protest that you are not a dog and don’t like being pet,  despite it being a goddamn  lie but right now it feels soothing and pale and it’s exactly what you need. So you close our eyes and purr.

“Don’t patronize me.” You yawn again.

**= > Alright. Be the elephant in the room**

You are the last person in the room that you wanted to be.

Your phone is ringing and you really feel like this time is going to be it. It rings three… four… and then it answers. It’s been a few days since it answered.

“Wait… don’t hang up. You don’t have to say anything… i… i… I just don’t know anymore. I’m trapped in the place where I was supposed to meet up that night, sitting here… I'm scared, i’m frustrated, i’ve called just about everyone and nobody is answering… I don't even know if you're alive, okay, or if this is even you… i just… I need you to answer and listen… please.”

It’s silent for a few seconds.

**= > Be on the other side of the phone call**

She’s calling again. You think about not answering but you know you have to. So you do…

You listen, it’s nothing you haven’t heard before, she’s sounding desperate. You don’t care for it but you sit and hear it out. Maybe she’ll say something worth both of your time. Maybe not and you’ll just hang up.

You don’t owe her anything.

You hear her cry and sniffle and you feel bad but not bad enough to say anything. So you sit like a dumbass with your phone glued to your ear.

You feel like an asshole when you hang up.

**= > Watch her sleep**

You are Sirius Corona and you rake your hand through Hikkup’s hair as she murmurs in her sleep. She flinches and groans every now again, sometimes violently turning over or hugging into any stuffed animal she could find. 

It looks rough and you wish you could help her, put her mind at ease. Kendall comes to see your face while you do so, grinning like an idiot. He knows that you have a pale crush on her, even though you only know her for a single day.

“Don’t go getting any weird ideas.” You scold the male, him raising an eyebrow. 

“Oh but I have ALL the ideas.” he says, playful intent laced in his voice. “You two would be adorable together.”

“Honestly, she is far too good for me.” You say, looking down at her. “You should’ve seen all the things she did… she was like… a superhero. And I'm me.”

“Yeah, you are you and anyone who doesn’t see that you are incredible obviously doesn’t deserve you. You really need to stop putting yourself down like this, Blue.”

“... thank you, Kendall. Even though we have known each other for only a short period of time, your companionship is most appreciated.”

“No problem, dude.”

**= > Pretend to be asleep**

It’s not really pretending. You are, for all purposes, asleep. However you are aware of your surroundings and everything that is going on, in a trance that is sleeping but not deep enough to land you in a rem state. 

You listen in on Kendall and Sirius and instantly feel bad.

Like a superhero, he says. Which i couldn’t be farther from the truth. You didn’t do any of those things out of heroism but more like obligation. You even contemplated leaving Sirius behind in favor of the mission Two-Hat Jack gave you. 

You are a terrible person and you feel like you are lying to Sirius by not telling him otherwise.

To be honest, you hate being yourself. You look down at yourself with disgust.

Suddenly, you hear the hum… the call. For some reason, whenever you go to sleep, you end up having some kind of large journey or therapy session you didn’t ask for.

You look down at the body sleeping in the bed and roll your eyes, you’re not really worried about it. You always return at the nick of time.


	9. => Be a horrible person

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> everything is falling apart and you have to fix it

**= > Speaking of terrible people. Look over Sunset City**

You watch over this worthless city and the plague that your product has caused and smile with glee. You always thought Sunset City was a waste of space. Perhaps, you will send out the damage control committee to finish off what is left.

“Ma’am, we have been informed that the epidemic has spread past the city.”

You grind your teeth, disliking the bad news. The whole point of this being a citywide project is for it to stay in the city, it’s not a hard concept. You crush the can of Faygo that you were drinking.

It took no longer than six days for the city to go savage. Six days.

You hiss knowing that ultimately, the blame will fall onto your head. You were the one who refused to listen to that lowblood when he pleaded for you to move the date of the release. You are the head of the fucking company. Of course, this is Your fault.

You flip your desk, startling the assistant who stood watching you. You clear your throat and compose yourself. No, you will handle this.

“Thank you… you are dismissed.” You say, waving her off. She quickly nods, scrambling out of the room. You run your hand through your hair.

**= > Answer your phone**

Your phone starts ringing, something it barely does. Usually your secretary answers it… if she isn’t answering it, it must be from… oh no. Your hand trembles as you reach for the receiver. I answer the phone, shaking.

“I see you have made quite the mess.” a voice fills your ear, your head begins to throb. You grab onto the desk to keep from falling over. “Perhaps… I should take over.”

“No! It’s fine… I can handle it.”

“If that were true then this little fiasco wouldn’t have happened in the first place. It seems that things are already spreading throughout the city-islandscape. It won’t be too long before it hits the mainland. I’ll…”

“I’ve sent the order to close the borders, nothing in and nothing out.” you gasp out, feeling blood building in your ears and throat. Tears are flowing down your face.

“You’re going to need to do more than that. News cannot get word of this.”

“Yes- Yessir.” You pant out, falling to your knees. “I have everything… under… under… I have everything under control.”

“You better.”

The phone goes dead with a click and your hand goes limp, as if the voice on the other end was the only thing keeping it up to your ear. You feel your head burning on the inside and your ears bleeding as if they had been blown out.

With the last shred of consciousness set up, you press a button, starting up one of the emergency “Clean Up” projects.

**= > Intercept**

You smile, knowing that the word has been sent. You have exactly 1 minute to intercept as much as you can from the code as possible. You gaze over it quickly, picking out things that is a definite no-no.

You send a copy of the code to several locations, high-lighting the bypass by the use of their stupid mascot booth, inserting certain dialouge options instead of catchphrases or marketing ploys. Air out a little laundry.

Definitely crunch the kill code. No mass genocide, thank you. You bite your lip as time begins to crunch, deciding to scroll down and insert a supply installment so that no one here has to resign to cannibalism anytime soon, which means that you had to leave the “attack on sight” in the drones code.

With the last few seconds you decrease the drone design count significantly, this way there won’t be as much as a burden to stay hidden or take them out when needed.

The code disappears and you sigh, knowing you did all you can. You quickly begin to send messages to the respective subjects of interest, moving everyone in the right direction, being careful to stay under the radar.

With that, you return to watching and waiting for the next time to strike.


End file.
